Damian knew what he had to do. He might not like the tactic, but it would pletely ge the game.

  How things were going, he didn’t even have a ce of reag 50th pce.

  “If the game isn’t in your favor, maybe you’re pying the wrong game,” Damian remembered one of the things the patriarch of the Nero family always told his children.

  Before the battle began, the captains had mapped out the river and the monsters around it. But they weren’t the only ones gathering information. Damian’s ability allowed him to “unicate” with creatures, a skill he despised, at least in its current form.

  The Great House of Nemo could dominate and ensve any non-rational creature, but in the early levels of their Boon, they could only unicate with such creatures. It was almost useless in battle, which made advang through the ranks of the House a difficult process.

  Unsurprisingly, many of the Nemo’s developed a silver tongue, which is helpful with other humans and monsters.

  However, unlike humans, Crabits couldn’t t. So, even after gathering information from his targets, Damian didn’t know how many Crabits were around the bat area. He had only learhat a big horde river and some smaller groups were downriver.

  ‘If I take some petition out of the fight, I’ll have more time and targets to climb the rankings.’ Damian justified.

  While pting his steps, he didn’t stop attag the easiest targets around him. Although his whip was not strong enough to kill a monster, it could cerate the Crabits’ skin, making them more susceptible to his suggestions.

  Gradually, he started moving toward the lower part of the river, distang himself from the battle while always fag forward to avoid a surprise attack.

  A chaotic battle like this made it difficult for him to move, but there was also a positive side: no one aying attention to him. Almost at the edge of the battle, he spotted two Crabits that were easier targets; both were injured and seemed to be avoiding the battle. Quickly moving his whip in a figure-eight patterruonsters with the sharp tip.

  [Beast Charm]

  His mind ected with both creatures. Their senses became shared, amplifying the iy of the bat hundreds of times. Through their heightened senses, Damian could feel the emotions of the two animals, but also from the entire horde; it was plete and utter fear.

  The creatures might have been irrational, but even in their limited uanding, they khey were fag extermination. If the battle tihey would be wiped out.

  The fear made it easier for Damian to access their minds; there was little resistao his suggestions. He could issue basiands or assign simple tasks within the animals' itive limits.

  The task wasn’t easy, but Nemo’s training had been even harder. Sweat drenched his forehead as he trated entirely on adjusting the monsters’ minds. Every explosion around him added time to the process, and he silently hoped no stray projectile would hit the two Crabits, f him to start over.

  ‘There! The first one is ready. Go and bring help.’ Damian sighed in relief

  It was a simple and, ‘head upstream and bring reinforts.’ Damian didn’t know how many Crabits were upriver, but if he could bring back a few hundred, it would be enough to injure some cadets and knock them out of the rankings. Maybe eveo Oliver.

  He then shifted his focus to the sed Crabit. Now that he wasn’t handling two simultaneously, the process went faster.

  ‘Done! Go downstream, bring help.’ Damian finished his pn.

  With his scheme in motion, all the boy had to do was wait and hope. In the meantime, he titag, accumuting as many points as possible without advang too far and riskiing caught by the reinforts.

  His score wasn’t improving much, but even if his scheme worked, he would still need more points to move up in the rankings. So, he stayed focused a attag.

  Seds turned into minutes, and minutes into hours. As time passed, it became clear that humans were winning the battle. Of the thousands of Crabits, only a few hundred remained. Even the less experienced cadets were stepping in to up the field.

  Meanwhile, Damian began to worry. Perhaps his pn hadn’t worked.

  ‘Maybe someone elimihe Crabits?’ The boy pondered.

  He could imagihe one heading upstream had been taken out. It had to ost of the battlefield, but the one going downstream was already far from the fight.

  However, before he could sider further, things started to ge. He felt the ground tremble he s, and the trees began to sway.

  ‘Damn it! What have I done?’ Damian grabbed his head in frustration.

  ---

  ---

  Uhe previous day, Oliver was sting much longer in bat. He hadn't drained his stamina or energy as much by trolling the energy output of his Energy Pistol to maximize each shot’s efficy.

  Even after an hour of fighting, he was still sing the battlefield for new opportunities. But with each passing mihere were fewer and fewer, as the number of Crabits had drastically diminished.

  Some cadets had already left the battlefield to rest, while others pressed on to finish off the remaining monsters. From his position, Oliver could easily spot a few cadets climbing the hills, Astrid resting on the side of the battlefield, and Katheriill fighting off the st of the Crabits.

  U the start of the battle, Katherine’s movements were slower, fog on one oppo at a time. Her stamina was nearly depleted, especially with the mud from the river stig to her feet.

  ‘I think that it. It makes no seo tig.’ Oliver stood up, realizing there would be no more opportunities.

  He began to prepare to rejoin the pany. But before he turned, he noticed something odd. The trees at the top of the river started shaking violently, and he could hear footsteps growing closer until the ground itself began to tremble.

  “Hey. Are you feeling this?” One of the recruits screamed.

  “Felling what?” Another one asked.

  Soon, Oliver wasn’t the only oig the signs.

  Where there had once been trees, there was a massive horde of Crabits advang, destroying everything in their path. They were in far greater han the ohey had just fought, and the creatures weren’t stopping, surging forward like a wave of destru.

  The cadets still otlefield were attacked from all sides by overwhelming numbers. Few students were in any dition to fight, making it even harder to withstand the new onsught.

  Before the captains could order a retreat, another horde appeared, advang from the lower part of the river. Though smaller in hey pihe cadets, who were already exhausted from the battle. The damaged armors were now being shredded apart.

  “IMMEDIATE RETREAT!” Musk shouted at the top of his lungs. The cadets closest to the hill mao retreat quickly.

  However, this only worsehe situation for those he river, who were now the few remaining targets for the Crabits. Oliver quickly readied himself and began shooting again, this time not w about waiting for perfect opportuhere were too many Crabits; he couldn’t keep track of the exaumber, but it looked like three times the amount they had fought earlier, perhaps around five thousand new enemies.

  “Shit! We’re fucked.” One of the recruits screamed while running away from the battlefield.

  ‘It … looks grim.’ Oliver thought, simultaneously happy not to be otlefield like the st day.

  It was time for the captains to step in. Fag thousands of Crabits was easy for them, as each ecialist in Ranger ons and had already dealt with even worse sarios. The biggest problem was the number of recruits they o save.

  Oliver watched as each captain advanced, but his eyes were mainly on Musk, who was responsible for his pany. His speed wasraordinary as he moved forward slowly, step by step. But when he raised his revolver, the effect drastically differed from the previous day.

  "BOOM!"

  Instead of a simple shot, the revolver fired an explosive bst. Each shot cleared the entire field in front of him, killing hundreds of Crabits. The situation improved with each shot, but Oliver could see clearly that those he river might not have even five minutes left.

  His focus was mainly on Katherine, who was surrounded. Her helmet, which had already been cracked, was now gone. Her face was covered in cuts, and her hair was matted with dried blood and mud. She tinued fighting with her back to the river, thinking with each attack, ‘Just one more... just one more.’

  But her strength was fading. Her vision, already blurry for a while, was starting to darken. Her legs, trembling and in pain, used whatever energy was left just to keep her standing.

  She looked around, trying to find a way out, but her mind was exhausted. Part of her wao give up and leave things to ce, while another part urged her to fight until the st sed.

  Oliver, from the hill, saw the situatioing worse. He knew he shouldn’t leave the hill; it would be foolish, incredibly stupid. But before he could make a decision, his legs started running.

  “What am I doing?” Oliver screamed to himself.

  He had fiden his agility to dodge the attacks, but the numbers were overwhelming. As soon as he ehe battlefield, he barely made any progress without firing his Energy Pistol to clear the Crabits in his way.

  While his eyes were on Katherine, he used [Observation] to gather information around him. Unsciously, he kept firing.

  he river, Katherine finally came up with an idea. Realizing no one was left around her, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped.

  "SPLASH!"

  She threw herself into the river, hoping the current would carry her away. Her only problem was that she had nth left. Not enough to swim, not even to stay awake.

  About teers from the river, Oliver saw everything unfold before him.

  “How did she not see me!?” He questioned her sanity and his own.

  Everything was going from bad to worse; none of this had gone acc to pn.

  “I’m an idiot. A plete idiot. Ugh, damn it!”

  The boy ran, dodging every Crabit in his path, and jumped.

  GCLopes